IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT “it” being The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, of course IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT IT’S OUT […]
I’m feeling a little punchy these days. See, debut authors are supposed to spend the runup to publication doing everything we can to promote ourselves, so that our books will sell a ton of copies right out of the gate — thus saving us from the midlist death spiral, the dreaded penname change (Octavia M. Tarrant!), and so on. But Book 3 has also been eating my soul, leaving precious little creativity for my promotional efforts. So I’ve still been coming up with promotional ideas, but… well… they’re all stupid. An example: City on a Stick! You, too, can own
Failed Promo Ideas KEEP READING
Got the first report today from someone in the UK that The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has been spotted on a Waterstones bookshelf!! I’m kind of shocked, because I thought the thing wasn’t even supposed to ship until Wednesday, but hey, who knew. Apparently only J. K. Rowling’s books get held off the shelves ’til the official release/pub date. (This may be the only time I ever say that I’m glad I’m not J. K. Rowling. Take a snapshot; won’t happen again.) Speaking of snapshots, and given that copies are starting to appear, I have a request: because I am a
Do we have BOOK SIGN? And contest! KEEP READING
Hey, SFWA members! You, yes, you, have in your hands a unique opportunity! See, I have a short story, “Non-Zero Probabilities”, that’s doing pretty well in the Nebula preliminary-ballot voting. At this point there’s a very strong chance that my story will get onto the final ballot(!!). Now, I won’t lie; I’ve been entertaining fantasies of winning a Neb since I saw the vote tallies, but at this stage of my career I’d still be happy — ecstatic, actually — just to get onto the final ballot. So if you happen to have not yet done your Nebula voting, please
Shameless self-promotion, times three KEEP READING
Via Stomping on Yeti, just saw the cover of the latest Temeraire novel! Go here to view it and read an excerpt. Oooh, is that Iskierka entwined with Temeraire? Probably not, given the coloring and lack of steam/flame. Plus he can’t stand her, the fussbudget; can’t imagine him happily tangling up with her like that. I hope she manages to win him over. But then what dragon is it? They’re in Australia for this one — will we see marsupial dragons at last?? Aaaaaaagh I can’t believe I have to wait ’til July…!!! And how long before the Temeraire movie?!
And now, a moment of shameless fangirlery KEEP READING
Mooching a meme from a friend, and tweaking it for fantasy, my favorite 5 fantastic nonhumans, in no particular order: Gerald Tarrant, “Coldfire Trilogy”, C. S. Friedman. I have a thing for humans who become nonhuman, especially if they embrace the change and leave their old selves behind completely. But I get tired of overdone varieties of this, like vampires. Tarrant embodies this transformation with a marvelous complexity — he feeds on blood, but only as a last resort, finding simple vampirism too crude for his tastes. He prefers to feed on cold and darkness and just general evil. But
Meme Mooching: Favorite 5 Fantasy Nonhumans KEEP READING
Got sent this by fellow Altered Fluidian Mercurio D. Rivera, who snapped this photo of me being silly at my signing at Worldcon. As per apparent SF writer tradition, I put up the “Wall O’ Books” (my Advanced Reader Copies) to make myself seem more Important. Actually signed a few things, too, even though I don’t actually have a book out; was most delighted by a person who brought a printout of my blog to get signed. But then it all went horribly, horribly wrong. (Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you haven’t been playing with the Squirrelizer too.)
Yeah, it’s Monday KEEP READING